Like friendly fire: Newmarket man's life cut short by sepsis

Saturday

Jan 18, 2014 at 3:15 AMJan 20, 2014 at 9:36 AM

EDITOR'S NOTE: Judy Jarosz was approached by Foster's and asked to help with this article by sharing her husband's story. Initially she was hesitant, but after talking with family members, she decided that what Vincent would have wanted more than anything else was to ensure that other people don't suffer from the same ordeal. Judy shared Vincent's story — being interviewed several times and connecting the reporter with doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital — in the hopes of informing them about and potentially saving them from deadly sepsis ... because that is what Vincent would have wanted.

By DYLAN MORRILLdmorrill@fosters.com

NEWMARKET — Vincent Jarosz, 62, of Newmarket, began to feel extraordinary pain in his heel around Thanksgiving last year. It wasn't rare for him to feel pain. It had been with him since 2012, when he fell and shattered the heel. He did not undergo surgery because doctors feared that a staph infection he contracted 13 years earlier after having a rod inserted in a broken leg, could flare up again and cause serious harm.

Jarosz chose to take the doctors' advice and deal with the heal pain for the rest of his life. It was typically bearable. But around Thanksgiving last year, he felt pain like he had never felt before. He called his doctor and set up an appointment.

About a month later, on Jan. 3, Vincent Jarosz passed away.

Born in Exeter in 1951, Vincent Jarosz graduated from Newmarket High School in 1969 and the University of New Hampshire in 1973. He had two children, Michelle, 20, and Ryan, 17. Jarosz spent about 27 years working for the Newmarket Ambulance Corps and served as its president for a time.

He was also a Newmarket firefighter. His love for all things related to firefighting extended outside of work. He collected a massive amount of firefighting memorabilia and was respected as an authority on firefighting hand tubs and other antique firefighting equipment. A 1940s Seagrave Fire Pumper occupies the Jarosz home's garage on Lang's Lane in Newmarket.

Jarosz is no longer around to enjoy his firefighting memorabilia because he was one of the approximately 750,000 Americans who annually suffer from a condition called “sepsis.” According to WebMD: “Sepsis is a serious medical condition caused by an overwhelming immune response to infection. Chemicals released into the blood to fight infection trigger widespread inflammation.”

In other words, it is a syndrome in which a person's body inadvertently harms itself in response to an infection; sort of like friendly fire. Nearly a quarter of those diagnosed eventually fall victim to the syndrome.

Sepsis typically accompanies only the most serious infections, according to Steve Calderwood, a physician and chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Doctors are still trying to determine just how Jarosz got his initial infection, and if the shattered heel had anything to do with it. They suspect that the infection Jarosz had over a decade ago lingered around his body and was somehow triggered.

What is known is that Jarosz got an infection and, as his body tried to fight it off, he developed sepsis. This developed into septic shock, which eventually took his life.

Sepsis is known to strike unexpectedly and kill quickly. Healthier people are less likely to develop sepsis, but are not immune. In 2009, 20-year-old Brazilian Supermodel Bridi da Costa developed a urinary tract infection and died from sepsis within days, according to a 2009 CNN article.

Symptoms of the syndrome are similar to those of a bad flu. However, when sepsis evolves into its deadly form, septic shock, symptoms become more serious and more noticeable. They include blotchy skin, low blood pressure, lack of urination, and confusion.

While doctors have made strides in sepsis detection, the natural ambiguity of the symptoms make it hard to detect, according to Dr. Jim O'Brien, the Board Chair for the Sepsis Alliance, a California-based organization that aims to create awareness of sepsis and provide support for survivors and family members of victims. Once people start experiencing the more serious symptoms it is often too late.

“(Sepsis) is diagnosed very frequently in hospitals,” said O'Brien. He praised hospitals for the adoption of modern detection techniques, but said more can still be done.

Despite the syndrome's fatality rate, sepsis is relatively unknown among the general public. Only 40 percent of Americans have ever heard of sepsis, according to a 2012 study by Harris Interactive. “The American public doesn't know about sepsis at all, relative to the danger it poses to them,” said O'Brien.

Mass General's Calderwood said that people can shield themselves from sepsis by keeping their hands washed, getting appropriate vaccinations, and becoming informed about the symptoms of the syndrome.

The overwhelming swiftness of sepsis, combined with the fact that most people don't know what it is, often leaves the loved ones of victims asking what happened and why.

That was true of the Jarosz family.

By the time Vincent Jarosz saw his doctor on Dec. 3, his heel pain had started to subside. But he had developed back pain and didn't want to cancel a doctor's appointment, so he went anyway. His orthopedic doctor referred him to his primary care doctor, who prescribed painkillers and told to come back if they didn't work.

A couple of days later and still feeling pain Jarosz visited the emergency room at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital. He underwent tests that determined he had a bacterial infection called methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, or MSSA.

There are about a dozen types of bacteria that typically cause sepsis. MSSA is one of the worst.

The bacteria were found to be attacking Jarosz's kidneys. He started to become disoriented a few days after being admitted to the hospital, because the bacteria diverted blood on its way to his brain. He couldn't think clearly.

“By Wednesday they put him in ICU because of his kidney and his liver and the weird things that were going on within his thinking process,” said Jarosz's wife, Judy. “That's when I realized that it was more serious and there was more going on.”

As is often the case with sepsis, what started as something minor had quickly developed into something much more serious and scary. Just days earlier, Vincent Jarosz had been up and about. He talked about going skiing. He was his normal self. But out of nowhere, a strain of bacteria turned his life upside down.

Vincent Jarosz was transferred to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Dec. 14. The hospital did extensive testing and eventually concluded that the bacteria in his body had made its way to his heart.

“(MSSA) was in the blood when he was in New Hampshire, and then we detected that it was in the heart later,” said Dr. Darlene Fusco of Massachusetts General Hospital, Jarosz's lead doctor. “Although we were able to clear the (MSSA) from the blood stream, his organs had been so affected by the septic shock that he couldn't recuperate and his liver and kidneys continued to fail.”

Jarosz's body, in a desperate attempt to kill the deadly MSSA bacteria, was killing his vital organs. Sepsis was in the process of claiming another victim who had appeared to be in good health just a few weeks earlier.

“That's when the doctor came to me and said that we have to talk about the white elephant in the room,” said Judy Jarosz. “There is a strong possibility that he might not survive this.”

Her husband, who just a few months earlier was enjoying late fall, passed away on January 3. For the Jarosz family, sepsis was the answer to the question of what claimed Vincent's life. They're still contemplating the “why.”

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